diablo7806

I'm having some odd problems with my speedometer. Every other gauge works fine, as do the lights and such. It's intermittently very erratic. Sometimes it will not work at all and just jump around, and other times it will start working again for no clear reason. I'm suspecting either the cluster is bad, a short somewhere, or the sending unit. I figured I'd ask around for some help here since none of my friends know anything about Hondas.


This video shows exactly how it acts when it stops working. Shortly after I recorded this, it started working again for about 10 minutes, then went back to doing this.

Any help would be much appreciated, while I can fairly accurately estimate my speed by RPM, still helps to have everything working.

Stock 99

This is your answer....

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...ml#post4679462

The wire is just shorting right now but you haven't managed to blow the fuse yet.

I keep meaning to check mine out before it becomes a problem.

ezone

Assuming this is the ONLY problem noted......and no codes related to VSS.......I'll guess that problem lies in the cluster.
I'd strongly suspect the speedometer unit itself, not the board on the back of the cluster.

If you whack the dash with your fist right over the gauges, does the speedo start working again?

diablo7806

No it doesn't. I've tried that, since that's how I'd keep my dash lights on when they would refuse to turn on in my 95 civic. It just does whatever it wants really.

ezone

Ok, I'd bust out my scanner and watch the VSS reading, make sure the scanner displays a steady speed while the gauge goes nuts.

(If the scanner VSS reading also goes nuts, then I'd be looking for wiring rubbed through, or VSS bad, or something along those lines.)

Hopefully the scanner reading is steady and I can rule out everything between the VSS and the PCM.....leaving the gauge cluster as the most likely problem.


At this point, most would just go to the junkyard and grab another cluster and plug it in....but beware the speedometer is a somewhat common problem area.

You could probably narrow it down further with testing and patience. Or playing swaptronics.

diablo7806

If my 95 civic cluster will wire up properly, I could just use that instead if it is just the speedo. I'll head out to autozone and borrow a scanner tomorrow. Thanks for the second opinion ezone

ezone

I don't think you can do that, they are different cars.
1996-2000 is 6th generation.

DangerZone free code reads are usually the lowest of low, they barely give reliable code numbers but always give a great parts shopping list (all to sell more parts with!!!). No datastream. Just codes.
Try it and see!
Good luck

diablo7806

Borrowed my grandpa's scanner. VSS is perfectly fine, speedo is bad. Thanks for the help ezone, now to attempt to fix it, hoping it's just a loose wire or something I can fix relatively easily.

ezone

Chances are good that it is inside the speedo head on its circuit board (not the big board on the back of the gauge cluster).. Last one I looked at several years ago had that circuit board sealed in a hard clear resin so I couldn't go in to resolder any of the components.



Most people would head to the junkyard at this point and grab another cluster.